A new golf course could be built in the Arizona city of Flagstaff, as part of ambitious development plans by the owners of a local hotel.

The Holding family, which owns the Little America hotel and conference centre in Flagstaff, wants to develop 537 acres of land (including the existing 32 acre hotel site) to include 1,400 houses, a retail centre, another hotel, and the golf course. Denver-based urban design and landscape architecture firm Design Workshop has masterplanned the development, and has also been tapped to create the golf course. It would be the largest masterplanned community in Flagstaff.

The city’s planning and zoning commission has recommended acceptance of the plan, which was discussed by the full city council this week, though a decision was deferred.

Even if the development is granted permits, the proposed golf course is not likely to be built for three or four years. Some local sources, though, have opposed the golf component of the development, owing to concerns over the availability of reclaimed water for irrigation. The course would require over 600,000 gallons of treated effluent per day during the summer, but current estimates suggest only 560,000 gallons are likely to be available. The city’s system for distributing reclaimed waste water is likely to be upgraded in the near future, but council members have indicated their unwillingness to guarantee the availability of sufficient water to irrigate the course.